All in the Family
by Scoobyfan1
Summary: When Fred travels to his ancestral family home in Germany to visit his uncle, he becomes involved in a sinister plot and a dark secret which has been hidden in his family's past for decades. Rated T for possible diciness in the plot. Pairings: Fred/Daphne throughout.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: Scooby Doo and all related characters and trademarks are copyright 2010 Hanna-Barbera Productions/Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network. I am not making any money off of writing this story, I am just a fan. Also this story will be similar to the 1980-82 Scary Scooby Funnies/Scooby and Scrappy Doo series but with Fred, Daphne and Velma instead of Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy Doo.

Chapter 1

The blue and green paint job of the van known as the Mystery Machine reflects off the moonlight coming from the night sky above as the famous vehicle travels through the German countryside; to anyone who would be out on a night like this it would seem a bit unusual to see a bright green van with red flowers traveling down the road, but for the vehicle's occupants, nights like this and areas like the one they are currently traveling through are all too common.

Inside the vehicle sat Fred Jones, Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley, three members of the world famous detective agency known as Mystery Inc.; they have solved cases all over the world, but at the moment the five are not solving mysteries, at least together.

The other two members of the group: Shaggy Rogers and a Great Dane named Scooby Doo are back home in Coolsville; right now things were pretty good for the duo, even when Fred and the girls contacted them about getting back together and solving mysteries again, they decided they wanted to take it easy and relax for a while.

Naturally with what the duo had accomplished and done in the past, the trio understood and went on their way, but not before uncovering the gang's old vehicle: the Mystery Machine, which had been in storage for quite some time at Daphne's mansion; after applying a fresh coat of paint and getting the van tuned up, the trio of sleuths headed out once again on the open road, although it wasn't the same without Shaggy and Scooby, but as the blond teenage leader of the group remarked it was going to take some getting used to and it would be just as fun as when all five solved mysteries together.

The trio had solved quite a few mysteries so far when one afternoon Fred received a call from his great Uncle Von Jones; he had recently moved from the United States to the Jones family's ancestral home, an ancient castle in Germany and was doing fine, that is until something or someone cut the conversation off, as the line suddenly went dead.

Fred, figuring that his uncle was in trouble then called up Daphne and Velma to see if they wanted to come along; the two girls agreed and Fred picked them up in the Mystery Machine, soon the trio headed for the Coolsville Airport and a flight to Europe; naturally because Fred wanted to take the Mystery Machine along, Daphne through her parents business connections was able to secure a private jet with a spacious cargo area for the van.

Several hours passed and the private jet carrying three members of Mystery Inc. landed at an airport in southeast Germany; after landing and retrieving the gang's luggage, Fred and the girls got into the Mystery Machine and the pilot opened the cargo door, allowing Fred to drive out of the plane and onto a small road leading away from the airport and onto the back roads of the German countryside.

At the moment Fred and the girls are continuing to make their way through the roads that led to the Jones family castle; both of the female members of the group peer outside the windows of the van and noticed that for once things seem pretty calm, there's no thunder, no rain, nothing that would hinder the group's travels, but as Mystery Inc. would soon learn, nothing is ever that simple.

The conversation inside the van now changes from the weather to Fred's relative; actually Daphne and Velma are quite curious as to why their blond friend's uncle wanted him to travel halfway around the world and to another continent, so they decided to question their comrade about Fred's uncle.

"Fred?" Daphne asked.

"Yes Daph" Fred replied.

"So what can you tell us about this uncle of yours anyway?" Daphne responded.

"Well, he's my uncle for one thing, his name's Jeff; actually his full name is Jeffrey Von Jones and he lives or lived on a huge house back in the US, remember we were going to visit him once; he was the one who lived near the coffin factory and had a museum" Fred replied.

"That's right; you wanted to visit him, but Scooby wanted to go to a dog show so we went there instead" Velma replied.

"You sure you're not too upset about seeing your uncle then Fred?" Daphne asked.

"Of course not, Scooby's a great dog and it was nice to do what he wanted to do for a change; although my hair certainly took a while to grow back after that dog groomer got done with me" Fred replied, cringing at the memory of him getting a new hairstyle, albeit reluctantly.

"Well at least it grew back, and at least you get to see your uncle again" Daphne commented.

"Yeah, too bad Shaggy and Scooby aren't here, they would have enjoyed my ancestral family home" Fred replied.

"I bet they would have, after all Shaggy and Scooby seem to really like mysteries, although they don't show it much" Daphne commented.

"Yeah, they would have probably went straight for the kitchen once we got there" Velma added, while she and Daphne giggled at the thought of their two cowardly teammates eating Fred's uncle out of house and castle.

"So Fred, why did your uncle want you to come all the way to Germany anyway?" Daphne wondered.

"Beats me Daphne, all he said was that he decided to move to my family's ancestral family home and that he was in some kind of trouble or danger, but before I could ask him about it more, the line went dead" Fred replied.

"Well I know whatever's going on, we can solve it" Velma remarked.

"We sure can, besides we've solved much more difficult mysteries then this" Fred added.

"Right, there's not a ghost or monster alive or dead that could defeat us" Daphne remarked.

So with that the Mystery Machine continued it's drive through the German back roads, however unknown to the occupants of the vehicle, a few seconds after they continued driving and a few hundred yards in back of them a strange black caped figure appeared on the road, the figure had long white fangs and blond hair; naturally the gang couldn't see this figure at the moment but eventually he would be visiting the trio and it would not be pleasant for all involved.

After driving about ten more minutes, the Mystery Machine drove through a long, winding road made of stone and a few bricks, at the end of the road, flanked by a series of large Fir trees there stood a large ancient looking castle with a several frightening looking stone gargoyles on the roof and next to the front door; the castle looked to have several hundred rooms and at least three or four floors by the size of it, at least that's what it looked like from the outside.

Daphne and Velma were quite puzzled as the van approached the large structure, but Fred wasn't, in fact as soon as the castle came into view he instantly recognized the place and was happy and surprised by what he saw.

"I don't believe it, I'm finally here; all my life I've wanted to see this and now I finally can: Jones Castle, my family's ancestral family home" Fred remarked, sounding a bit stunned and a little bit taken aback by the sight of the immense structure that was only about a dozen feet away.

"Jeepers, you mean this is Jones Castle?" Daphne asked.

"Sure is, this was where my ancestors lived; some of them even came over on the Mayflower in addition to the pilgrims from England" Fred explained.

"Jinkies, I didn't know that Fred" Velma replied, somewhat surprised at what the blond teen had told them.

"Yeah and a few of them came from Europe and settled in major cities like Milwaukee, Philadelphia and others; actually some of my ancestors helped found schools, hospitals and even a few libraries and fire departments" Fred remarked.

"Jeepers, that's impressive Fred, I never knew that; but how did you know all that?' Daphne asked.

"From family reunions; my parents and grandparents used to tell me stories about my ancestors coming here and doing all of that; actually I think I even have a couple relatives who play professional sports too" Fred commented.

"You're kidding" Daphne replied, somewhat surprised.

"Sure do, I have a couple of cousins who share the same name as me who play football and basketball, I forget whether they're third cousins or fourth cousins or something else" Fred explained.

"Jinkies, that's impressive Fred, I never knew that; we have to go to a game sometime" Velma commented.

"Velma, I never knew you liked pro sports, well other than hockey of course" Daphne replied.

"Well we have seen the Harlem Globetrotters play and that was pretty cool" Velma added.

"That's true" Daphne commented.

"Well girls, what do you say we get our luggage and head inside" Fred replied.

"Good idea Fred, besides I wouldn't want to stay out in the dark all night" Daphne remarked.

So with that the gang opened the back of the Mystery Machine and took out their belongings; the trio of detectives then brought everything they had with them to the front of the castle and prepared to enter the building, but first they needed to alert whoever was inside of their arrival, so Fred reached over and rang the doorbell, which sounded like it could raise the dead several times over.

"J-Jeepers! That doorbell might be one of the scariest things I've ever heard" Daphne commented.

"Daphne, I tend to agree; I'm surprised we haven't seen any ghosts yet" Velma added as both girls shivered in fright at the sound of the strange doorbell; after that, they quickly hid behind the blond teen leader of Mystery Inc. and did what Shaggy and Scooby usually did: mainly cower.

"Don't be ridiculous girls, there's nothing scary about a doorbell" Fred remarked.

"Well to tell you the truth, the doorbell's not the only thing that's scary about this place" Daphne commented.

"So what's the other thing that's scary, if you don't mind me asking?" Fred wondered.

"Daphne and I don't mind answering that Fred; basically if you want my opinion I think the castle's pretty frightening too" Velma replied.

"Knock it off girls, there's nothing frightening about this place; it's just my family's ancestral family home, besides there's hundreds of years of Jones family history here and I think it would be cool to explore it all" Fred commented.

While Fred, Daphne and Velma debated the merits of the Jones family ancestral castle and whether it was indeed haunted or not, they began to hear footsteps coming from inside the lavish structure; after a few more moments the trio noticed that the footsteps began to get louder and louder, that is until they heard the ancient wooden door of the castle open slowly, with a eerie sounding creak.

The fashionable and wealthy red haired member of the trio and the brunette haired intelligent member of the trio each held clung to one of Fred's arms for dear life and in sheer terror as the ancient door fully opened; standing in the doorway was a black haired man wearing what looked to be a black tuxedo and white dress pants.

Normally the sight of a man like this wouldn't be too frightening to Fred and the girls, but the fact that his face looked like something out of a nightmare, mainly pale white not to mention that fact that he might have been a double for Bela Lugosi made the normally brave trio of sleuths a bit nervous and a little scared.

"Yes? Can I help you?" the man said in a creepy sounding voice.

"Um yes, my-my name is Fred Jones, and these are my friends Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley; my Uncle Von Jones lives in this castle, he phoned me a few days ago and told me that he had moved here and that he was in some kind of trouble or danger, he's expecting me" Fred explained, while trying to control his fear of the strange individual.

"Ah yes, Master Frederick your uncle is looking forward to seeing you again" the man said.

"Great, but who are you? we would like to know who we're talking to" Fred asked.

"My name is Christopher Wilkins, I am the castle's caretaker and I assist your uncle in running the estate; now if you will please come inside, I can retrieve your luggage and bring it inside with me" the man explained.

"Alright" Fred replied, though somewhat reluctantly.

With that Mr. Wilkins walked outside of the castle doors and did as he said, mainly retrieving the trio of sleuths luggage, although considering what Daphne had brought, it wasn't easy; the middle aged black haired man struggled a little with the luggage but managed to get inside the castle, that is with Fred, Daphne and Velma's help, as they closed the castle door after Mr. Wilkins brought the luggage inside; after Mr. Wilkins and the luggage were inside, he closed the large imposing castle door and locked it.

"Now if you will follow me I will you take you to your uncle Master Frederick" Mr. Wilkins remarked.

The strange black haired caretaker then walked over to a nearby candle holder, took the candle from it and began walking through a dark, dreary, dank cobweb filled hallway; as Fred, Daphne and Velma followed the peculiar man through the passage, the two female members of the trio began snickering under their breaths at what Mr. Wilkins had said.

"Master Frederick?" Daphne wondered, while attempting to stifle a giggle at the same time.

"I don't think I've heard anyone call Fred Master Frederick before" Velma replied, also trying to stifle a chuckle.

"I guess Mr. Wilkins is just trying to be polite" Daphne commented in a whisper.

"Actually Daphne, Master or Mistress is quite a common title in this part of the world; it's also quite an honor as it is a very noble title, almost similar to modern day royalty" Velma replied.

"Hmm, I wonder if Fred will want us to treat him like royalty now?" the red head questioned.

"Maybe, but to me he'll always be the same old Fred" Velma replied.

After the two girls continued to chuckle, the blond teenage leader of Mystery Inc. continued to follow the caretaker of the castle through the frightening looking passageway; while he was being led through the hall, Fred looked around and noticed that there were dozens of pieces of artwork on the walls, in addition to various sculptures and other miscellaneous items.

However, being a detective the blond teenager naturally noticed a few things that were strange or unusual in the hallway, specifically with the paintings; for instance, Fred noticed that each of the paintings were of people that had very close resemblances to the teen sleuth; actually each of them had almost the same features that Fred did, mainly the same hair color hair, the same eyes and even a few wore neckties similar to Fred's ascot, even a few of the paintings were of women and a few of them wore orange colored scarves, or at least close to the color orange as possible.

Fred also noticed, at least for a few seconds, that apparently some of the paintings eyes were moving; but the blond teen sleuth dismissed it as nothing and continued walking, but still Fred had the strangest feeling that someone or something was watching him, the caretaker and the girls.

"Mr. Wilkins?" the blond teen asked.

"Yes Master Frederick?" the caretaker replied.

"What are all these paintings hanging in the hallway?" Fred inquired.

"I'm glad you asked Master Frederick, these are all portraits of your family members over the centuries; actually, there are a few paintings of your ancestors in this hallway as well paintings of family members from this century" Mr. Wilkins explained.

"Wow, are there any paintings of my parents?" Fred wondered.

"Yes, but they are in another portion of the castle, you may see them later if you wish" Mr. Wilkins said.

"I may take you up on that offer" Fred replied.

Eventually the trio plus the caretaker found themselves in front of a large unmarked wooden door; Fred was quite puzzled as to why the caretaker had brought the trio to where they currently were, but figured there was at least some reason why they were there.

"Here we are" Mr. Wilkins remarked.

"Yes, but where is here?" Velma wondered.

"This is the castle's study and library, Master Frederick's uncle is inside this room at the moment and he is expecting you three, especially you Frederick" Mr. Wilkins replied.

With that the castle caretaker handed the candle he was carrying to the blond teen and took out a set of keys from his pants pocket; he then looked through the keys before finding the one that opened the study, after putting the key in the lock the door opened with a noisy creak which made the red haired member of the group a little nervous.

"Jeepers, how many doors in this castle are creaky anyway?" Daphne asked.

"Oh don't be silly Daphne, it's just a door" Fred replied.

"Sure and that doorbell was just a doorbell" the red head remarked.

"Now let's not start that again, it was just a doorbell and the doors are just doors; there's nothing to be afraid of and if you two want to leave and act like scaredy cats, that's more than fine with me!" Fred declared as his voice raised a few octaves, in addition to being somewhat annoyed with the two female members of the group.

"Fred, you've never said anything like that before" Daphne commented.

"Jinkies, you said it Daphne; I've never heard Fred act like this before, I mean he never acted like this with Shaggy and Scooby around" Velma added.

"I'm sorry girls, I didn't mean to snap at you like that; I just wanted to tell you that if you didn't want to stay you could go home if you wished, it's just that my uncle means a lot to me and if any member of my family needs my help, I have to help them, no matter what the situation or no matter how creepy of frightening the situation might be" Fred replied, his voice sounding a bit lower in tone and pitch from before.

"I know Freddie, I know; I mean if one of my family members was in trouble I would help him or her" Daphne said, putting a hand on Fred's shoulder.

"Right, and the same goes for me; if one of my relatives was in trouble, I would help them out too" Velma added.

"Thanks girls, I knew you would understand; so are you two going to stay here and help me and my uncle out?" Fred asked.

"Absolutely!" Daphne replied.

"Right, nothing can scare us off" Velma added.

So with that the care taker walked inside the castle's combination study and library with Fred, Daphne and Velma following close behind them; after entering the room, Fred and the girls noticed that there were dozens of bookshelves throughout, in addition to a large painting hanging above one of the bookshelves on right side of the room.

Sitting at a wooden table in the middle of the room was a middle aged man with dark blond hair, wearing what looked to be black horn-rimmed reading glasses, a dark blue business suit and what looked to be an light orange tie around his neck; he was also wearing dark blue slacks and light brown loafers and was in the middle of reading a book when Mr. Wilkins stepped up to the table.

"Sir, your nephew Frederick and his friends are here," Mr. Wilkins said to the man.

"Oh, well in that case let me put down my book so I can talk to him" the man replied.

With that the blond haired gentleman laid down his book on the wooden table and got up from the chair he was sitting in; the man smiled as he walked closer to Fred and the girls, and as Fred got a closer look at him, he smiled as well; actually, he did more than smile, because once he recognized the man, he ran over to him and began hugging him.

"Uncle Jeff! It's so good to see you again!" Fred exclaimed.

"Freddy! It's fantastic to see you again too!" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Uncle Jeff, I want you to meet some friends of mine: this is Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley, girls this is my Uncle Jeff Von Jones" Fred said, introducing the two female members of the group.

"My my, what charming young ladies" Uncle Jeff remarked as he kissed Daphne and then Velma's hand.

"Jeepers, thank you Mr. Jones" Daphne replied with a smile.

"Jinkies, likewise" Velma added, also smiling.

"Nephew, aren't there usually another couple of members of your group?" Uncle Jeff asked.

"Yes usually; actually Shaggy and Scooby are taking a vacation, right now they're back home and probably enjoying themselves a lot," Fred explained.

"It's too bad, I heard they enjoy food so I used some of my connections to arrange a tour at one of Germany's largest candy factories for them" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Uncle Jeff, I'm sure they would have enjoyed it, but confidentially I don't think a tour of a candy factory would have been a good idea" Fred remarked.

"Why not?" Uncle Jeff asked.

"Because they probably would have sent the factory into bankruptcy, they probably would have eaten every piece of candy in the place" Velma replied with a giggle.

"They sure would have" Daphne agreed, also chuckling a little.

"Well let's not worry about that right now" Fred commented.

"That's right, although I would like to see them, they would be a lot of fun to talk to" Uncle Jeff replied.

"They sure would be Uncle Jeff, they sure would be" Fred commented.

"Now, let's get to the reason why I called you here in the first place" Uncle Jeff replied.

Author's Notes: Hopefully everyone likes the way I ended the first chapter, it's sort of a cliff-hangar and the chapter ended up being sort of short, although the next couple chapters will be a lot longer.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Fred Jones, Velma Dinkley and Daphne Blake, three members of the detective agency known as Mystery Inc. stood in the combination study and library of the Jones ancestral family home: an ancient castle located in the Southeastern portion of Germany; at the moment Fred, Daphne and Velma were sitting at a wooden table, joined by Fred's Uncle Von Jones, who had recently moved from his home, coincidentally a castle in the United States to the family's ancestral family home; but all was not well as Fred's uncle had told his nephew over the phone that he felt he was in danger and that there might be some trouble in the castle, so Fred and the girls headed for Germany to help the blond teen leader of the group's relative.

After the castle's caretaker Mr. Wilkins left the room, Fred's Uncle Von Jones began to relate the story of the castle and it's somewhat colorful history to the trio of sleuths; eventually Fred's uncle came to the present day and why he had called his nephew to Europe.

"So Uncle Jeff, why did you want me to come over here to Germany?" Fred asked.

"Very simple nephew, you see for many years the Jones family has lived in prosperity and solitude; even during the Great Depression and World Wars I and II were somewhat simple and stress free for the family, despite the circumstances surrounding both events" Uncle Jeff began.

"Interesting, go on Uncle Jeff" Fred replied.

"Very well; unfortunately for the past several months, since I moved into the castle, strange things have been happening here" Uncle Jeff explained.

"Jeepers, like what Mr. Jones?" Daphne asked.

"Well, like the lights flickering on and off every so often and at night no less, or the fact that I could swear that the paintings in the castle have real eyes and are watching me every so often, or in the dark of night seeing strange white figures that looked like phantoms or apparitions floating through the air, I tell you I'm not a superstitious man at all, but if I did believe in that sort of thing at all, I would say that this castle is haunted" Uncle Jeff replied.

"But there's no such things as ghosts or phantoms Mr. Jones" Velma remarked.

"I know Velma, I know, but all these happenings might be too much for me; I might have to move out if this keeps up and I don't really want to do that, I mean this castle has been home to generations of Jones family members and it's hard to leave somewhere that has been part of your family for hundreds of years" Uncle Jeff responded.

"Don't worry Uncle Jeff, we'll solve this mystery for you; besides no one can scare us off" Fred replied.

"I certainly hope so Fred, I certainly hope so" Uncle Jeff remarked as he glanced over at a clock hanging on the wall of the castle's study/library and realized that it was getting quite late.

"My goodness, I didn't realize what time it is, it's almost 11:00 PM; and I'm getting a bit sleepy" Fred's uncle continued.

"Yeah, it is getting pretty late, and I need my beauty sleep" Daphne commented.

"Actually I think we could all use some sleep after that long drive and flight here" Velma replied.

"I agree, let's get our luggage and then Uncle Jeff can show us to our rooms, right Uncle Jeff?" Fred said.

"I think I can I do that nephew, come on let's go back into the main hall and retrieve your luggage and then I'll show you where you three will be staying for the duration of your stay here" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Sounds good Uncle Jeff, lead the way" Fred remarked.

With that Fred's uncle closed and locked the door behind him, making sure that the blond teen, Daphne and Velma were all in the hallway outside the door; once the unofficial leader of the group's uncle saw that his nephew and the two female members of the group were outside the door, the quartet began walking back into the main hall of the castle; however Fred, Daphne and Velma noticed something very peculiar as they returned to the main part of the structure, mainly that the castle caretaker, who had let them inside was nowhere in sight, so the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. decided to ask his uncle about this development.

"Uncle Jeff?" Fred inquired.

"Yes Fred?" Uncle Jeff replied.

"I don't seem to see Mr. Wilkins around, I wonder where he went?" Fred answered with a questioned look on his face.

"Hmm, you know I don't see him either; after he left the study he must have went to his cabin to get some rest" Uncle Jeff replied.

"I guess so, although if I lived or had to work in a place like this I might be too nervous to sleep" Fred responded.

"Freddie, I thought you weren't scared of anything" Daphne commented.

"Yeah Fred, why would you not be able to sleep if you lived or worked here?" Velma asked.

"Well girls to tell you the truth, this place actually does seem a bit creepy; I mean I know we've stayed at haunted places before and the villain would always turn out to be a man or woman in a mask or costume but still, there's something really weird about this place, I just can't put my finger on it" Fred remarked with a look of concentration and a little worry on his face.

"I know what you mean nephew, ever since I moved into this place it's made me a bit nervous as well; although hopefully nothing will happen to you or your friends while you're here" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Well now that we're here nothing will happen to you or to any of us, we'll make sure of it right girls?" Fred asked.

"Right!" Daphne and Velma declared.

"Good, well now since that's settled I can show you to your rooms" Uncle Jeff remarked.

"Sounds good Uncle Jeff, lead the way" Fred replied.

So after each member of Mystery Inc. gathered their luggage, they followed Fred's uncle to a long winding staircase which looked to be made of marble; Fred's uncle then started walking up the staircase with the gang following close behind, after a few minutes the blond teen's uncle walked away from the staircase and into an old looking hallway filled with several dozen doors, a couple of which were open which surprised the three members of Mystery Inc. a little.

"Before you arrived here I told Mr. Wilkins to make up bedrooms for the three of you, I guess he forgot to close the doors after he finished" Uncle Jeff said as he explained why two of the doors in the passage were slightly ajar.

"That's okay Uncle Jeff, so which room is which; that is which room will each of us be staying in?" Fred asked.

"Fred, that room over there is going to be your room and the girls' room will be right next door" Uncle Jeff said, pointing out two rooms in the middle of the hallway.

"Sounds good" Fred replied.

So with that Fred took his luggage into his room, while Daphne and Velma took their respective luggage into their bedroom; the blond teenager was in the midst of unpacking his clothes and putting them in the closet, when he felt someone tapping on the shoulder, which made him a little nervous, after all staying in a haunted castle and having someone tapping on your shoulder would probably make you nervous too; although Fred did know that someone or something wanted his attention, so he turned around to face this person, however Fred was quite thankful that at least this time it was not a ghost or ghoul or monster, but instead it was his Uncle Jeff.

"Uncle Jeff, you scared the living daylights out of me!" Fred remarked, albeit with his voice raised a little.

"I'm sorry Fred, I didn't mean to startle you or anything, I just wanted to let you know that the upstairs bathroom is down the hall and that the kitchen is downstairs, it's the third door on the right side of the main hall, you can't miss it" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Thanks" Fred commented.

"Oh and Fred, if you need me for anything my bedroom is downstairs, second door on the right in the main hall, ok?" Uncle Jeff remarked.

"Sure, thanks again Uncle Jeff and good night" Fred replied.

"You're welcome Fred and good night" Uncle Jeff commented.

With that Fred's uncle walked out of the hallway and back towards the long, winding marble staircase, once he made his way to the staircase he walked back down it and out of sight, specifically downstairs to his bedroom.

After Fred took a shower and brushed his teeth he returned to his bedroom and got into bed, and after a few minutes drifted off to sleep; after a few hours of sleep Fred heard a strange noise which was coming from somewhere inside the very room he was sleeping in, which even though he was the bravest member of Mystery Inc. made him quite nervous; after a few minutes of shaking nervously in his bed the blond teenager realized just what this noise was, specifically it was not a monster or phantom, but rather it was own his own stomach which was beginning to rumble.

"I guess my stomach is trying to tell me something, like that I'm hungry; I guess in all the excitement of planning our trip over here to visit my uncle I've forgotten to eat anything since breakfast, well I guess there's no harm in getting a nice midnight snack" Fred remarked to no one in particular as he put on some slippers, he then walked over to a nearby nightstand and pulled out a candle and a candle holder and walked out of the bedroom; however he was unaware that a sinister presence was lurking in the very room and hallway he was currently in, specifically when he was beginning to walk out of his bedroom a painting which hung above his bed's eyes slid away and were replaced by a pair of red eyes, which looked far from human as possible, in fact if you got a good look at them you would think that they belonged more to a nightmarish evil creature then to a human being.

With candle in hand Fred journeyed into the upstairs hallway, making sure to not wake up his female companions, after all they had a long journey as well and Fred figured that the two girls would like a good night's sleep, so he made sure to be quiet as possible while venturing downstairs; Fred then made it to the marble staircase and walked down it, finally he made it into the main hall of the castle and began looking for the kitchen.

"Now let's see, Uncle Jeff said that the kitchen was the third door on the right? Yeah, that was it, the third door" Fred thought to himself, although considering no one was awake at this time of night he figured it wouldn't hurt to think aloud as well, albeit softly in order to not awaken anyone.

As Fred ventured through the main hall, the same sinister presence that had been in the hallway upstairs and in his room was still present, in this case it was in the form of each painting in the hallway watching him, observing him in his search for the kitchen; not to mention a suit of armor in the hall's eyes were also watching him, although Fred didn't know it or see it at the time.

Finally the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. made it to the castle kitchen, but once he opened the door he was surprised by what he saw; the castle's kitchen was almost as big as the kitchen and pantry of Daphne's house back in the United States, the blond teenager stood in the doorway amazed as he saw untold shelves full of all sorts of food, in fact if Shaggy and Scooby had joined them they probably would have been amazed as well; also in the kitchen were a microwave, oven, refrigerator/freezer and a dishwasher, in short everything that would usually be found in a kitchen, albeit much, much bigger.

Fred then looked through the shelves of food and the well stocked refrigerator for a snack, before deciding on a simple sandwich, but oddly enough Fred didn't have a simple sandwich; instead he decided to experiment and built a sandwich that featured ham, roast beef, turkey, lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese, mayo and mustard on two slices of white bread; after building the sandwich and placing it on a plate, the blond teen then grabbed a napkin and fixed a glass of milk for him to drink while he enjoyed his sandwich, finally he sat down at a large wooden table and began eating.

"I still can't understand why Shaggy and Scooby like having big sandwiches, I can hardly eat this, although it is quite good" Fred remarked to no one in particular in between bites of his massive sandwich.

Eventually Fred finished the sandwich and milk and put the dirty plate and glass in the dishwasher; after this was done he walked back upstairs and returned to his bedroom, and after a few more minutes he drifted off to sleep once again, now with a full stomach which meant that he wouldn't have to deal with it rumbling for quite a while.

While the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. slept the sinister presence that had been around him since he had ventured out of his bedroom was about to strike and when it did, it would snare Fred Jones in its evil clutches; above his bed hung a painting of one of the blond teenager's distant relatives, previously its eyes had only slid open and had been replaced by a pair of human eyes, now the entire painting slid open and a pair of arms reached down towards Fred; the arms moved towards the blond teenager's head and once they did, they slipped a medium sized gold medallion similar to the size of an Olympic medal around his neck, Fred fidgeted for a few seconds in his sleep but quickly resumed his slumber which made the person who had slipped the medallion around his neck quite pleased.

Fred was unaware that someone had placed the gold medallion around his neck, and slept soundly for several more minutes before something strange began to happen; the medallion began to glow, but it wasn't a bright glow per say, it was actually a rather soft glow, in addition to the medallion glowing a strange voice, almost ghostly in nature began to speak.

"Frederick Jones, Frederick Jones" the unseen voice said, speaking in a sinister sounding tone.

Suddenly Fred awoke from his sleep, at least to the untrained eye he had awoken, but in reality his eyes had a strange almost blank and empty look to them, as if someone was controlling the blond teenager's movements and thoughts; in fact someone was controlling the teen sleuth, specifically speaking he was hypnotized and the medallion was what was controlling him, putting him under as it would turn out, an sinister spell.

"Frederick Jones, you are in my power, I now control your thoughts; do you understand?" the voice declared.

"Yes master" Fred replied, in a trance like voice.

"Good, good; you will do whatever I say and you will follow all of my instructions to the letter, do you understand?" the voice said.

"Yes master, I will comply" Fred remarked.

"Excellent, now walk over to the bookcase in your bedroom" the voice said.

The blond teenager complied with the strange voice's request and a few moments later he was standing in front of a large bookcase filled with four of five shelves of volumes covering vastly different subjects such as the paranormal and the supernatural, history and science; once the teen stood in front of the bookcase he waited for further instructions from the unseen voice.

"I am now standing in front of the bookcase master" Fred commented.

"Good, good; on the third shelf there is a book with a red cover, it is in the middle of the shelf, once you locate it, turn it to the right; once you have pulled it, wait a few seconds because it opens up into a secret passage which is built right behind your bed; the bed and the wall will then swing around into the passage where I will be waiting to give you more instructions" the voice explained.

"Yes master, I will do whatever you say" Fred replied.

The blond teenager then followed the strange voice's instructions exactly; first Fred searched through the third shelf of the book case until he found the book that the voice was talking about, next he turned the book to the right, like the voice said, next the bed that Fred had been sleeping in and the wall both turned around revealing a dark and dusty passage, which looked to have been included in the design of the castle when it was originally built; finally Fred walked through the now open doorway and into the now open secret passage, of course it was probably a good idea that he walked through the passage since a few moments after the blond teen walked through it, it closed behind him and slammed shut.

The blond teenager and unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. was now standing in a dark, dismal, cobweb filled passageway, but he was not alone; standing a few feet away was a familiar looking black haired man wearing what looked to be a black tuxedo and white dress pants; however because he was hypnotized Fred didn't know that standing a few feet in front of him was none other than the castle's caretaker Mr. Wilkins.

Mr. Wilkins had a sinister smile on his face and he looked quite pleased that the blond teenager had joined him in the secret passageway; the black haired caretaker then chuckled a little as he prepared to give the blond teen more instructions, however unknown to the blond teen, these instructions were going to be quite the opposite of simply walking into a secret passageway and standing in front of the caretaker.

"This Frederick Jones is responding quite well to my hypnotism so far; not only that but he makes the perfect person to help me in my plans" Mr. Wilkins thought; normally the blond teenager would be trying to capture the strange individual, actually with the caretaker only a few feet away in would have been no problem for Fred to tackle the man to the ground, however because the teen was hypnotized he was unable to do so.

With one of the members of Mystery Inc. under his control, specifically the leader and one of the strongest members of the group, Mr. Wilkins began thinking yet again; only this time he was considering what he could accomplish with Fred under his power.

"With this simple minded teenager under my hypnotic spell I can force him to do whatever I wish him to do; I could have him commit crimes for me throughout Germany, I could use him to take over the country or the continent; I could be the richest and most powerful man in all of Europe!" Mr. Wilkins thought as he laughed evilly once again.

However Mr. Wilkins thoughts quickly shifted, as his sinister smile turned into a look of disgust; he realized that even if he wanted to use the blond teenager in his plans, there were a few obstacles he would have to get past first; three to be specific, which made him clench his fist in anger as he began thinking once again.

"Unfortunately I can't begin my plans with this blond teenager's meddling friends in the castle and that uncle of his as well; I must figure out someway to get rid of those two girls and that relative of his once and for all, but how?" Mr. Wilkins wondered.

Finally after a few moments the castle caretaker came up with the perfect plan, an evil smirk passed his lips once again as he began to formulate his idea, once his plan was fully constructed, he laughed evilly and began speaking aloud once more.

"I should have thought of this before; my family has been caretakers of this castle for centuries so I know all of the family's history, or at least most of it; because I know the family's history so well I can use the old Jones family legend against them; how could I not remember this previously? This is the perfect idea: according the old family legend, that medallion is said to turn any member of the Jones family that sets foot inside this castle into a vampire for an entire night, and it just so happens it's about six or seven hours from sunrise which means I shall have young master Frederick in my control for the rest of the night" Mr. Wilkins said as he laughed evilly once again.

"Luckily I prepared for Frederick's arrival and planned this situation completely out; first, if either of those friends of his or his uncle try to get the medallion off, they'll receive quite a surprise, specifically that I used super glue on it so there's no way any of those three will be able to remove the medallion and second, what better way to eliminate those interfering friends of his then by having their former leader put the bite on them and turning them into vampires" Mr. Wilkins remarked as he continued to laugh wickedly.

With the caretaker's evil plan carefully and painstakingly constructed, he then decided it was time to fully put his scheme into motion; so he took a deep breath and began speaking to the hypnotized Fred once more, only this time he was now prepared to instruct the blond teen in what his part of the caretaker's plot was to be.

"Now Frederick, I have a little job for you" Mr. Wilkins said with a devious smile.

"What is the job master?" the hypnotized teen sleuth asked.

"The job I have for you is this: the passageway you and I are currently in leads into the hallway which contains the bedroom that belongs to your two female friends, you shall walk through the passageway and enter the bedroom of those two meddling associates, then once you are inside their bedroom you shall walk up to the bed and bite the red haired girl and the one with the glasses on their necks, turning them into vampires, then the girls will take care of your uncle and then no one will stand in my way and I will be on my way to ruling Europe!" Mr. Wilkins said with a deep sinister laugh that echoed through the passageway.

"Now my young apprentice, it is time to prove your worth to me; the medallion around your neck now glows brighter, as my control over your mind and thoughts gets stronger, you will listen to and obey my commands Frederick Jones and once the medallion finishes glowing, you will be fully transformed into a creature of the night: a vampire; hear me young apprentice, you are becoming one with the night, you are becoming one with the darkness, you are now a vampire!" Mr. Wilkins declared, his voice getting stronger and sounding more evil with every passing second.

A few seconds later right in front of the caretaker the hypnotized Fred began transforming; his blond hair became somewhat sharper, almost similar to what a crew cut or buzz cut in the military would like, his face changed from a normal human's face into one that looked to be a shade of dark blue; his teeth began changing from a set of normal human teeth into sharp fangs, while his hands were turning a shade of dark blue as well and his fingernails began growing out into what looked like sharp claws; finally the teen sleuth's human clothing, specifically his bedroom wear had disappeared, replaced by a long red and black cape and black pants; after several minutes, Mr. Wilkins plot had, at least for now succeeded: Fred Jones was a vampire.

"Excellent, excellent; now come with me Count Frederick" Mr. Wilkins said as he and the blond vampire walked through the passageway; in the part of the blond teen's mind which contained his conscience and detective skills, the small portion of Fred that hadn't been hypnotized and turned into a vampire began screaming at him, hopefully trying to make him understand that what he was doing was wrong and not like him at all.

"_Fred Jones, What are you doing? You're not a Vampire, you are a human being, Daphne and Velma are your friends, you can't turn them into vampires! You can't listen to this Mr. Wilkins, he's evil and he's trying to force you to do his bidding, you can't do this, you just can't! Think for one minute of Daphne and Velma, what would they say? Please for the sake of your friends and your uncle, do not listen to what's he's telling you Fred Jones, DO NOT LISTEN!"_

Alas, even his conscience and detective skills couldn't reach the blond teenager, the wheels of Mr. Wilkins plot began turning and the castle caretaker had succeeded, where his ancestors had failed; he had hypnotized Fred Jones and turned him into a vampire and now he was preparing to bring Fred into the hallway where he would attempt to transform Daphne and Velma into vampires as well.

"Now, the room that the two young women are staying in is a few doors down; since I hypnotized you, you probably don't have any idea where the room is, but I will lead you there, now come with me" Mr. Wilkins said as he lead the blond vampire down the hall, past several doors before coming to one that seemed familiar to Fred, or at least the small portion of Fred that was free from the hypnotism and Vampire spell.

"Here we are, the room that your, shall we say former friends are sleeping in as we speak; I will stay hidden behind one of the suits of armor in the hallway, meanwhile you will enter the room and bite them; once you have done that, they will be vampires and then I can proceed with the rest of my plan" Mr. Wilkins explained.

"Yes master" the vampire Fred replied with what sounded like a hiss.

"Very good, now my young apprentice go to work" Mr. Wilkins said.

While the caretaker fulfilled his promise and quickly hid behind a suit of armor, Fred entered Daphne and Velma's room; normally the girls room would probably be locked and shut, however while Fred and his uncle were talking earlier in the evening Mr. Wilkins had taken the opportunity to remove the locks from the door and left it ajar, just in case he needed to enter any of the rooms for his plan.

The blond teenage vampire opened the door slightly and entered the room to see the two female members of Mystery Inc. asleep as expected, the room had two beds, the one on the left had Velma slumbering on it while the second had Daphne, Fred's girlfriend sleeping on it; almost on instinct Fred walked over to the red head's bed first, the blond vampire then slowly lowered his neck down towards the beautiful red haired young woman, preparing to make her a creature of the night.

Author's Notes: Ooh, another cliff-hangar; how are Daphne and Velma going to get out of this one? Well, whatever happens during the rest of this mystery, it will be one of the few times Fred won't be around to help solve it; by the way, there's one more chapter after this one and it will be a doozy; by the way, thank you to everyone for reviewing and favoriting my stories, I greatly appreciate it as always


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The blond teenage leader of the world famous detective agency known as Mystery Inc., Fred Jones stood at the side of his girlfriend and fellow member of Mystery Inc. Daphne Blake's bed while another member of Mystery Inc. Velma Dinkley was sound asleep in her bed; both of them had accompanied the blond teen to visit his uncle at the family's ancestral home in Germany in hopes of solving a strange mystery that the leader of Mystery Inc.'s uncle had presented the trio with, however all was not well with the three sleuths as the two female members of the gang were unaware that while they slept, the unofficial leader of the group of detectives had been hypnotized by the caretaker of the Jones family ancestral castle, in addition the blond teen had been turned into a frightening vampire in order to assist the care taker in his evil plans; right now the blond haired teenager was preparing to transform one of his best friends in the entire world into a monster, of course he didn't know it at the time because he was under a sinister spell.

As the two female sleuths continued to be entrenched in dreamland, the blond teenager drew his neck closer and closer to the attractive redhead, naturally because she was a very sound sleeper she didn't know what was going on in the room; however while the other female member of the group was a sound sleeper as well, at this very moment she happened to slightly open her right eye, and as she did so she saw a sight that for all intensive purposes scared her to her very core.

"J-J-Jinkies a v-vampire! D-Daphne w-wake up, quick!" Velma gasped as she quickly sat up in her bed.

After hearing the bespectacled girl's shriek, the red head blinked her eyes a couple times and after a few moments opened them; however, as she awoke she saw the same thing that Velma did, mainly a frightening figure wearing a red and black cape standing at the side of her bed, trying to drink her blood.

"Yikes!" Daphne shrieked; thinking quickly the redhead ducked underneath the covers of her bed, while Velma ducked underneath the covers of her bed as both of them were hoping to avoid being part of the fierce creature's next meal, although they were still unaware that the vampire was actually the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. who was still under the care taker's hypnotic trance and who was still attempting to find the female detectives so he could transform them into vampires.

The blond teen vampire then growled as he looked underneath the covers of Daphne's bed for the red head, the hypnotized young vampire then ran quickly over to Velma's bed and looked underneath the bespectacled teen's covers but failed in his efforts to find either one of the female investigators, unbeknownst to the hypnotized unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. Daphne and Velma had already pulled the old crawl underneath the covers and try and escape trick which as it usually did in these cases worked; before the blond vampire knew what had hit him the red head and the bespectacled teenager had gotten out of the bed and were now running out of the room.

After escaping the clutches of their hypnotized friend, Daphne and Velma decided to do the only sensible thing that an red blooded American young woman would do in a situation like the one they were in: they decided to see if Fred could help them, although at the moment they were still completely unaware that he was actually the one who tried to turn them into vampires just a few minutes ago.

"It figures this vacation would turn into a mystery" Daphne remarked after she and the bespectacled girl walked the short distance over to Fred's bedroom.

"Daphne, quit complaining; after all, if we didn't solve mysteries, then you and Fred wouldn't get to spend as much time together as you when we split up and search for clues" Velma replied.

"And what exactly does that mean?" Daphne asked with a somewhat annoyed look on her face.

"Well, Shaggy, Scooby and I know what you two do when we split up during a mystery; I mean it's pretty obvious that you and Fred go together because you two are boyfriend and girlfriend, plus you two are in love with each other; besides, Shaggy and I do the same thing, we're boyfriend and girlfriend and we're in love with each other, even though Scooby's with us that's the main reason why Shaggy, Scooby and I always go together during a mystery, we love spending time with each other, and I have no problem with you two doing the same thing" Velma replied.

"Actually Velma, when you put it that way, I guess those are the main reasons why Fred and I always spend so much time together, and I can certainly see why you and Shaggy spend so much time together too" Daphne remarked.

"Yeah, he's a great guy, I just never realized it until a few years ago; he seemed like he really needed support after Crystal left and I knew that he and Scooby were there for me after Ben Ravencroft used me and tried to take over the world, so I decided to spend a lot more time with him and Scooby; and during that time I discovered that we had a lot in common, so we decided to start dating and things really took off, overall he's probably the most kind and caring person I've ever met, well aside from, you and Fred Daphne" Velma replied.

"I feel the same way Velma, and I just hope nothing happened to Freddie; I care just as much for him as you do Shaggy, and if anything happened to him I don't know what I would do" Daphne responded as a small tear escaped from her eye and began to run down her right cheek.

"Don't worry Daphne, if there's anyone who can help us solve this mystery, it's Fred; come on let's see if he's in his room" Velma replied after giving Daphne a handkerchief to wipe her eye and cheek with.

The two female investigators stood in front of the blond teen's door, attempting to figure out just what had happened to the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc.; of course the two teen sleuths were still unaware that as they entered the room, the blond teen had followed them and was watching them from only a few feet away in the hallway.

"Well, we're in Fred's bedroom, so what should we do Velma?" Daphne asked.

"Simple, look through the room for any clues; basically look for anything out of the ordinary or weird, or anything that would tie in to whatever happened to Fred" Velma replied.

With that the two sleuths began searching the blond teenager's room; however they were unable to find anything, that is until a few moments after they began searching Daphne happened to look at the bed, she was naturally hoping to see Fred sleeping and then he could help them figure out what was going on, but since the teen sleuth was hypnotized and a vampire, he wasn't in the bed which made the red head very nervous.

"Velma, I think we have a problem," Daphne said.

"What is it Daphne?" Velma questioned.

"Freddie's not in his bed, in fact I don't see him any where in this room!" Daphne replied with a somewhat shocked and look on her face and a scared tone in her voice.

"What? That's impossible, Fred must be in this room somewhere, come on let's keep searching" Velma said.

So with that the red head and the bespectacled teen girl continued looking around the small bedroom for any sign of the blond teenager, however they didn't find it and for all intensive purposes about ready to give up; which Daphne felt like doing as she sat down on the bed.

"Velma, I really hate to say it but Fred isn't anywhere in this room, I really think Freddie's vanished, or maybe something's happened to him, or maybe he-he's been kidnapped, or worse, oh Freddie!" Daphne said as she buried her face in her hands and began crying.

It was then that Velma decided to walk over to the bed and sat down next to Daphne to attempt to comfort her; she pulled out another handkerchief that she had been carrying with her and gave it to Daphne who wiped her eyes and blew her nose with it; Velma could see that the red head was quite upset over Fred's disappearance and tried to figure out someway to take her mind off of what was happening.

"I knew we shouldn't have come to this stupid castle, I should have figured something was going to happen; Freddie might be seriously hurt or sitting in some dungeon somewhere, I-I just don't know what to do" the red head said as she continued crying.

"Daphne, please: you have to get a hold of yourself, what would Fred do if he saw you like this?" Velma asked as the red head attempted to dry her eyes.

"I don't know, I just want him back and I want whoever took him to rot in jail for the rest of their life!" Daphne replied with just a bit of anger in her voice.

"Daphne, don't worry, we'll find Fred and we'll take care of whoever did this; but first we have to figure out what exactly happened to him, I know maybe a good book will help" Velma said.

"How can you think of reading at a time like this?" Daphne asked.

"Well, maybe one of the books on the bookshelf will give us some information on this castle and then maybe we can figure out what happened to Freddie" Velma replied as she walked over to the bookshelf.

"I still don't know how a book can help us" Daphne said, still somewhat confused by her friend's plan.

"You would be surprised; come on over and help me search through the shelves, who knows maybe I'll be right, maybe they'll be a clue up here" Velma replied as she began searching.

"Velma, if you actually do find a clue on the bookshelf then I'm the president of the United States" Daphne observed.

With that the two sleuths began searching the bookshelf for any semblance of a clue, and after a few moments Velma had found one; the bespectacled teen spotted an old looking red book on the third shelf, but couldn't get it down, she pushed it and pulled it, but couldn't get it to budge; finally Daphne decided to help her out and when she did, the two sleuths ended up turning the book to the right and after it did, the wall that contained Fred's bed began sliding open to reveal a doorway.

"Well, what do you say now Madame President?" Velma quipped before chuckling a little, in addition to humming _Hail to the Chief_.

"Very funny Velma, although it looks like you were right about finding a clue on the bookshelf" Daphne replied.

"Thank you Daphne; now if my guess is correct, this book that I pulled triggers the opening to a secret passageway, which must have been built into the castle behind Fred's bedroom wall; it was probably constructed by an ancestor of the Jones family, maybe during World War II, or maybe earlier" Velma stated.

"And I'll bet my trust funds for the next year that someone either knew about this passageway and secret entrance and probably entered into this room to kidnap Freddie" Daphne replied.

"I wouldn't make that bet quite yet Daphne" Velma said.

"Why Velma?" Daphne asked.

"Because if the only way to open the entrance to the secret passageway was to pull on this book then how could anyone get in here?" Velma responded.

"Which means there must be another entrance to the passageway somewhere in this room, right?" Daphne asked.

"Right, now all we have do to is find it" Velma replied.

With that Daphne and Velma began searching the blond teen's bedroom once again, this time looking for another entrance into the passageway, which they had discovered a few minutes ago; both of the sleuths took their respective portions of the room to search, specifically Daphne searched in the area around Fred's bed and Velma searched around the bookcase.

The two investigators then proceeded to knock on the walls, searched through the books in the book case, searched through the night stands, hoping that somehow, someway they would find another entrance into the corridor; in the minutes that followed Daphne and Velma went over every nook and cranny of the room, however once the red head and the intelligent bespectacled sleuth failed to locate another entrance into the passageway, they decided to give up.

"Daphne, I hate to say it but I think we're licked; except for some books, dust and Fred's clothes, there's nothing really out of the ordinary in here and there's definitely not another entrance to the passageway" Velma remarked with a sigh as she sat down in a chair near the bookcase.

"Come on Velma, we've got to keep looking, there's got to be some other entrance to that passage, besides if I was in the same situation Fred would try as hard as possible to figure things out and save me" Daphne replied.

"Believe me, I know he would, just like Shaggy would do the same for me, unless he was hypnotized or something" Velma stated.

"Yeah, he sure would; but back to the topic at hand: if I remember right every haunted castle, haunted house and haunted mansion we've ever visited has had secret passageways or corridors of some kind and they all usually had more than one…" Daphne said, before stopping herself in mid-sentence.

The red head then walked over to where the blond teenager had been sleeping and climbed onto his bed; Velma was somewhat confused by this and scratched her head as she decided to ask Daphne what she was doing.

"Um Daphne, why are you standing on the bed?" Velma questioned.

"I'm just admiring this painting that's hanging above Fred's bed" Daphne replied, with a somewhat curious look on her face.

"Daphne, I don't think this is a good time to start acting like an art critic, besides how does looking at a painting help us solve the mystery of what happened to Fred?" Velma asked.

"Simple, climb up here next to me and I'll show you what I mean" Daphne replied.

Naturally Velma complied with Daphne's request and she climbed up onto the bed to join the red head; the two sleuths then examined the painting that hung on the wall above the bed that the blond man had been sleeping in, at first glance it would seem that the piece of art that the two sleuths were observing was an ordinary painting but after a few seconds Daphne placed a finger on her chin and began thinking about the image she was studying.

"Hmm, my woman's intuition tells me that there's something very peculiar about this painting" Daphne remarked.

"How so Daphne? I mean it looks to me like it's just a portrait of one of Fred's distant relatives" Velma responded.

"It is, judging by the clothing the person is wearing and the person in the painting's hair style I would guess this was painted maybe in the mid to late 1700's" Daphne replied.

"Jinkies, that's incredible Daphne, I had no idea you were so good at identifying paintings as far as when they were painted" Velma responded.

"Thank you Velma, it's kind of a hidden talent; actually after looking at all the artwork in my parents mansion, I've become quite good at this sort of thing" Daphne replied.

"I guess I'll have some competition in the intelligence department now" Velma responded with a chuckle.

"Not at all Velma, you've always been the most intelligent member of the group and I'm fine with that, and I have no problems with it at all" Daphne replied.

"You're welcome Daphne; now about the painting, why do you think there's something weird about it?" Velma wondered.

"Simple, take a look at the eyes of the painting first of all" Daphne replied.

Velma then adjusted her glasses and moved closer to the painting, as she closely inspected the piece of artwork she noticed something very strange about the eyeholes of the painting, specifically that it looked like someone had cut the regular eyeholes out of the piece of artwork, although the two sleuths at first couldn't figure out why.

"Hmm, this is really strange, why would someone cut the eyeholes out of a priceless piece of art?" Velma thought aloud.

"Velma, I think I've got an idea" Daphne remarked.

"What's that Daphne?" Velma asked.

"If I had to guess, I would say that someone cut the eyeholes out of this painting to spy on whoever was in this room, in this case Fred, although there's one thing I don't understand" Daphne replied.

"What?" Velma queried.

"Why would someone cut the eyeholes out of this painting to spy on Fred in the first place?" Daphne wondered.

"Good question, although I think I've just found another strange thing about this painting" Velma replied.

"What is it Velma?" Daphne asked.

"Take a look at what the person in the painting is wearing around his neck" Velma said; the red haired teen then took a closer look at the artwork herself and noticed that the man in the portrait was wearing what looked to be a strange piece of jewelry around his neck.

"Yeah I noticed it too, it looks like the man in this painting is wearing some kind of gold medallion around his neck, and come to think of it I think that vampire that we saw earlier in our rooms was wearing a medallion that looked similar to this around his neck too" Daphne replied.

"Hmm, you know Daphne I think you're right; I wonder if this is connected with the eyeholes in the painting being cut out" Velma remarked.

"It's possible Velma; you know I just got an idea about this painting and if I'm right, we should have part of this mystery solved" Daphne replied.

"What's your idea Daphne?" Velma asked.

"Simple, I have a sneaking suspicion that this painting slides open and there's another secret panel behind it; if I'm right it ties together everything that's happened tonight, and we'll be one step closer to solving this mystery" Daphne replied.

"Daphne, you might just have something there, come on let's see if we can prove your theory right" Velma said.

With that Velma and Daphne took hold of the painting and began attempting to pull it open, however after a few minutes they failed, but the two sleuths didn't give up and they tried sliding it open; this time their plan worked and they managed to slide the painting over on the wall, once the two investigators slid the painting they discovered that there was indeed a secret panel behind the artwork.

"Well now all the clues that we've found are beginning to add up, first we know someone walked over to the bookcase in the room and opened the secret passage, second we know that there's a secret panel behind the painting and that someone cut out the eyeholes of the artwork possibly to spy on Fred, and third we know that the vampire and the man in the painting are wearing what look to be the same medallion" Velma said as she counted on her fingers the number of clues that she and the red head had found in the bedroom.

"The only questions I have are why someone would want to spy on Fred and what's the connection involving that medallion?" Daphne asked.

"I don't know Daphne, but something tells me I think we might need some help in solving this case, and the only person who might know how to do that is Fred's uncle; come on Daphne, let's go get him" Velma replied.

"But Velma, how is Fred's uncle going to be able to help us?" Daphne asked.

"Simple, if there is a connection between the man in the painting and the vampire that we saw, then this mystery might just involve Fred's family and maybe Fred's uncle might know something about this and maybe he can help us solve this case" Velma replied.

"Good point Velma" Daphne remarked.

"Thanks Daphne, now come on let's get out of this room, it gives me the creeps" Velma commented.

"Yeah it does have a creepy quality to it" Daphne remarked.

With that Daphne and Velma slid the painting back to it's original place, made sure there was no damage to it and then climbed down off the bed; the two sleuths then made their way out of the bedroom and back into the hallway as they attempted to locate the blond teen's uncle, while they secretly hoped that he hadn't vanished as well.

While Daphne and Velma searched Fred's bedroom, the aforementioned blond teenager stood in wait in the hallway, waiting for the two female sleuths to leave the room so he could track them down and transform them into sinister creatures of the night like himself; the red head and the bespectacled teenager then began walking through the corridor that contained their bedrooms and Fred's as well, hoping that they could find the blond teen's relative, however they were unaware they were being followed by their mesmerized friend, at least he was following them until the two female investigators began hearing footsteps other than their own, which made the youngest of the pair quite nervous.

"Daphne, did you hear something?" Velma asked.

"I don't know why?" Daphne answered.

"Because I have the distinct feeling that someone's following us," Velma replied.

"Don't be silly Velma, there can't be anyone following us; it must just be your imagination" Daphne remarked.

"I'm telling you Daphne, someone is following us and I'm going to prove it" Velma said; the bespectacled sleuth then turned around, however as she did she came face to face with the same vampire that had been in their room earlier.

"Jinkies! See Daphne I told you somebody was following us!" Velma said with a look of sheer terror on her face.

"Velma, I don't think now's a good time to talk about that, besides there's a good chance we might not get out of this" Daphne said while the vampire bared his white fangs at the pair of sleuths, which caused them both begin backing up slowly.

"Daphne, I hate to disagree with you, but there is a way out of this, in fact it's the only way I know of to escape a monster" Velma replied.

"You mean" Daphne remarked.

"Right" Velma replied.

"Run!" Daphne and Velma said in unison.

With that the pair of female detectives made like Olympic runners and took off down the hallway as they attempted to escape the red and black caped vampire that was following them; the two investigators made it half way down the hall before they realized that it was going to be somewhat difficult to escape the vampire so they decided to figure out a way to stop him; leaning on a wall in the middle of the corridor was a suit of armor, which Daphne and Velma decided to use for their plan, the two investigators then ran towards the armor, hoping the sinister creature wouldn't catch them, luckily he didn't and a few moments later the two sleuths hid behind the armor, where they waited, hoping for the right moment to slow down the vampire.

"Here he comes Velma, get ready," Daphne said.

"I see him Daphne, and I'm ready as I'll ever be" Velma replied.

"Okay, here's the plan: when that vampire comes by, you and I will put a shoulder to the suit of armor and push; I just hope this idea of mine works, I haven't had to think of a plan to solve a mystery in a long time" Daphne explained.

"Don't worry Daphne, this is a great plan and it will definitely work" Velma replied.

"Thanks Velma, now get ready I think I see him" Daphne said.

"That's him all right, and I'm ready" Velma responded.

"Good, now when I say three, we'll push the armor onto the vampire, ready?" Daphne asked.

"Ready" Velma remarked.

"Okay here we go: one, two, three!" Daphne declared as she and Velma put a shoulder to the suit of armor and pushed, as the red haired sleuth was expecting the suit of armor crashed right into the vampire, knocking him to the ground.

"Good going Daphne, your plan worked!" Velma declared as she shook the red head's hand.

"Thanks Velma, we make a pretty good team don't we?" Daphne replied, shaking the intelligent teen's hand.

"We sure do Daphne, now come on, let's get downstairs and try and find Fred's uncle" Velma commented with a smile.

With the blond haired vampire now temporarily incapacitated, the red haired sleuth and the bespectacled teen resumed walking; eventually the pair of detectives found the staircase which led to the main level of the castle, the two detectives then walked down the stairs and began searching the various rooms for Fred's uncle.

Meanwhile back upstairs, the castle caretaker Mr. Wilkins walked into the hallway to see if his hypnotized apprentice was able to transform the two female members of Mystery Inc. into vampires, however what he saw when he arrived in the hallway was particularly upsetting to him, specifically he noticed the hypnotized blond vampire underneath a suit of armor; when the castle caretaker saw this the expression on his face turned into one of pure anger and frustration, so he decided to help his hypnotized apprentice up from the floor, albeit reluctantly.

"Blast those two! I thought hypnotizing Frederick and turning him into a vampire would be enough to get those girls and Frederick's uncle out of this house, but apparently I was wrong; apparently those two young women are smarting than I thought, well I'll fix them and that blond kid's uncle as well, but first I have to regroup and come up with another plan" Mr. Wilkins said, still angry with the two female members of Mystery Inc. for defeating his apprentice.

"Come with me Frederick, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve to scare those two meddlers and your uncle away" Mr. Wilkins remarked.

"Yes master" Fred replied with what sounded like a hiss in his voice.

Once Fred had been helped to his feet by the caretaker, he and Mr. Wilkins walked inside the blond teenager's room; a few moments later the caretaker and the blond teenager headed over to the bookcase, once the pair stood in front of the bookcase the blond teen pulled the book that opened the secret passageway and once the passage was opened Fred and the caretaker walked inside; a few moments later the entrance way to the passage closed behind the two of them and the blond haired man and the caretaker began walking through the corridor, while they walked Mr. Wilkins began thinking of another way to capture Daphne, Velma and Fred's uncle, however he thought of it or whatever the idea was, one thing was for sure: it wasn't going to be pleasant.

Downstairs in the main floor of the castle, Daphne and Velma began their search for Fred's uncles bedroom; the pair tried knocking on several doors, hoping that one of them would be where the blond teen's uncle bedroom, although after knocking on the first couple of doors they failed to receive an answer, in fact they didn't hear a single noise coming from inside any of the rooms; soon Daphne and Velma came to a door in the middle of the hallway, both of them were quite anxious to see whether anyone was inside and whether this was Fred's uncle's room, so after some deliberation Daphne began knocking on the door: the pair of female detectives listened carefully to see if anyone was inside and after a few moments were about to receive their answer.

Inside of the bedroom a familiar dark blond haired man was lying down in his bed, he was wearing dark blue pajamas and looked to be sleeping peacefully, that is until he heard something that sounded like someone knocking on his door; although he was quite perturbed that someone would bother him while he was attempting to sleep, he decided to be courteous and woke up so that he could see who was knocking on his door; the man then got up from his bed and began walking over to the bedroom door, all the while notifying the person or persons who had woken him up that he was going open the door.

"Keep your shirt on, I'm coming, I'm coming" the man said before reaching the door; the man then unlocked the door before opening it so that he could greet his visitors properly, however once he opened the door he received somewhat of a surprise, because standing in the doorway were two familiar figures, whom the man had seen before and recognized instantly.

"Daphne, Velma, what are you doing here?" the man asked.

"Mr. Jones, are we glad to see you" Daphne said, wiping her brow as she and Velma greeted the man, which as you probably guessed turned out to be Fred's uncle Von Jones.

"Likewise" Velma added.

"What are you two ladies doing up? It's almost a quarter to three in the morning" Uncle Jeff stated.

"Well Mr. Jones, there's something very strange going on in the castle and I think you should know about it" Daphne remarked.

"Oh? What exactly is going on and why is it strange?" Uncle Jeff wondered.

"You see Mr. Jones, it all started while we were sleeping in our bedroom; we were sound asleep when I opened my right eye slightly and saw a vampire standing right next to Daphne's bed" Velma said.

"My goodness, what happened after that?" Uncle Jeff asked.

"Needless to say this scared as quite a bit and we made the decision to walk over to Fred's bedroom to see if he had seen the vampire too, or if he could help us in any way, but there was one problem with that; once we walked inside his bedroom we found that he was nowhere in sight, so we decided to search for him or any clues that would point to what happened to him" Daphne replied.

"Interesting, so what happened after that?" Uncle Jeff questioned.

"We searched every nook and cranny of his room, but didn't find any sight of him; it was almost like he either vanished or was kidnapped, eventually we decided to start searching for clues again and this time we found a few things that we thought we quite unusual" Velma answered.

"Like what?" Uncle Jeff asked.

"First of all we found a book on the bookshelf that opens a secret passageway that was built into the wall of the bedroom that Fred was sleeping in, second we found a painting that hung on the wall above Fred's bed, third we found that when we slid the painting over there was a secret panel which could and might have been used for spying on whoever was in the room, we also found that the eyeholes of the painting had been removed as well" Daphne explained.

"Was there anything else that the two of you found that would qualify as suspicious or strange?" Uncle Jeff wondered.

"Well there was one other thing, we noticed that the man in the painting that hung above Fred's bed and the vampire that's been chasing us were both wearing some kind of gold medallion; we figured out that there's some kind of connection between the man in the painting and the vampire, but we don't know what it is and that's where you come in Mr. Jones" Velma replied.

"Me? How can I help the two of you solve a mystery, I thought that was Fred's department" Uncle Jeff said with a somewhat confused look on his face.

"Yes usually, except for the fact that Fred's missing and we don't know what happened to him" Daphne replied.

"Hmm, let me think about this: now, you two both said that the vampire and the person in this painting were both wearing some sort of gold medallion, right?" Uncle Jeff asked.

"Right" Velma replied.

"Very good, now did the medallion that the vampire was wearing and the one in the painting look about the same?" Uncle Jeff questioned.

"Actually come to think of it, the medallion that the two of them were wearing did look the same, why?" Daphne wondered.

"I was afraid you girls were going to say that, I was really hoping that this wouldn't happen while Fred and the two of you were here either, but unfortunately it seems that things don't like to stay hidden for very long" Uncle Jeff said with a somewhat worried look on his face.

"What is it Mr. Jones? What's wrong?" Daphne asked.

Author's Notes: Yep, another cliff hangar; for some reason, I guess I really like cliff hangars, plus they really keep the audience or reader or viewer or listener guessing as to what happens next; I originally was going to make this the final chapter, but I decided to change things around and make this a four chapter story, hopefully everybody likes it anyway.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley, two of the members of the world famous detective agency Mystery Inc. stand in the doorway of the unofficial leader of the group's uncle's bedroom inside the Jones ancestral family home, an ancient castle in Southeastern Germany; at the moment the pair of female sleuths are telling Fred Jones' uncle about their harrowing experience with a vampire that appeared in the red head and the bespectacled teen's bedroom earlier in the evening.

Fred's uncle Jeffrey Von Jones has been listening to Daphne and Velma's tale with great interest, particularly when the two investigators told him that the vampire and a man in a painting that hung above the blond teen's bed had both been wearing a strange gold medallion; the dark blond haired man looked to have a troubled look on his face, in fact it was with good reason as Fred's uncle was about to tell Daphne and Velma about the medallion and why their compatriot Fred had vanished earlier in the evening.

"Mr. Jones, why were you so interested in why the vampire and the man in the painting were wearing the same medallion?" Daphne asked.

"Yes, does it have something to do with Fred's disappearance?" Velma added with a question of her own.

"Daphne, Velma, I'm sorry to say that yes, there is a connection between the medallion and Fred's disappearance; it all has to do with a strange and terrible family secret that's been locked away for decades, I was hoping that it would stay hidden and that it wouldn't rear it's head again, but like they say good things don't last forever" Uncle Jeff commented.

"But what is the connection Mr. Jones?" Daphne asked.

"If you two will accompany me to the castle's library then I can tell you more about what's going on and more about the family secret I was talking about and more about the medallion I was mentioning earlier" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Well what have we got to lose, lead the way Mr. Jones" Velma said as Fred's uncle, the redhead and the bespectacled teenager walked out of the blond teen's uncle's bedroom and made their way down the hall; after a few minutes the pair of sleuths and Fred's uncle found themselves in front of a familiar looking door, which they had seen earlier, in fact it was the place that Fred, Daphne and Velma first saw the blond teen's uncle in the first place; Fred's uncle then took a key ring out of his pocket and opened the door, which considering it was a room in an ancient castle squeaked as it opened.

Fred's uncle, Daphne and Velma then entered the room, which the youngest member of the group recognized as the blond teen's uncle's combination study and library; Daphne and Velma stood in awe at the sheer number of volumes that the library contained, just as they did before, meanwhile Fred's uncle walked over to one of the bookshelves and began searching it; he seemed to be looking for a specific book and a few minutes after he began searching he found what he was looking for, he then walked over to the same table that he was sitting at before when the girls and Fred first met him and laid the book down on it, Fred's uncle then motioned for Daphne and Velma to come join him and sit down at the table, which they did as each of the two sleuths pulled up their respective chairs and moved them towards the blond teen's uncle, where he had opened the book that he took from one of the shelves.

Daphne and Velma looked on and glanced at the strange volume that Fred's uncle had pulled out; in addition they wondered why he had chosen this particular book and what it had to do with the strange medallion and Fred's disappearance, so they did what anyone would do in a situation like this: they asked Fred's uncle about it.

"Mr. Jones, what exactly is the book that you took out?" Daphne asked.

"Well Daphne, you see this is a complete record of our family's history; in addition to a list of family members, birth dates, and all the other pertinent information about our family over the years, it also contains, shall we say some rather dark and shameful moments in our family's history over the years, including this" Uncle Jeff explained as he opened the book to a page that contained a picture of a distinguished looking gentleman; the girls noticed that he had a rather darkish shade of blond hair, was wearing a business type suit, what looked to be brown slacks and brown shoes, as well as a dark orange tie around his neck.

"Who is that Mr. Jones?" Velma asked.

"This is a picture of my great great grandfather Jonathan, he was one of Germany's richest businessmen in the early to mid 1700's, in fact he was the gentleman who built this house; not to mention he came from one of Europe's finest families and he was quite respectable, in fact he received many marriage proposals from any number of families from not only Germany, but throughout Europe as well" Uncle Jeff said.

"Jeepers, he almost looks a little like Freddie; in fact the resemblance is amazing" Daphne responded.

"Yes it is incredible isn't it; however, there's more to the story" Uncle Jeff replied.

"You don't say, can you tell us more?" Daphne asked.

"Unfortunately yes I can" Uncle Jeff said as he turned a page of the book; the blond teen's uncle then came to a page which contained another picture of the man, however in this picture in addition to his other clothing the man was now wearing a strange looking gold medallion around his neck, in fact Daphne gasped as she saw the picture, specifically because she recognized the medallion instantly.

"Jeepers, that's the same medallion that the man in the painting was wearing and it's the same medallion that the vampire was wearing as well," the red head said as she clasped a hand over her mouth.

"That's because it is the same medallion Daphne, you see the medallion that is being worn in this picture by my great great grandfather is a family heirloom, it has followed the Jones family for several hundred years and it has given us bad luck no matter where we have gone or no matter what we have done; you see when any member of the Jones family sets foot inside this castle, and if any member of the family should happen to wear the medallion you see here, they will become hypnotized, not only that but if this should ever happen, the medallion will also transform the wearer into a vampire" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Jinkies, so does that mean that your great great grandfather was a vampire at one point?" Velma asked.

"Yes, unfortunately and I'm sorry to say I was a vampire briefly when I was in my twenties" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Jeepers, is there anything more that you can tell us about the medallion Mr. Jones?" Daphne asked.

"Possibly, however no one knows the full history of the medallion except that during the early 1700's was the first time a member of the family ever wore it; although I think I now know what happened to Fred, and I would suggest the two of you prepare for a shock" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Yes, what is it Mr. Jones?" Daphne asked.

"If what the two of you have told me is correct, I believe that someone opened the secret panel that was behind the painting in Fred's bedroom, reached down towards Fred's neck and dropped the medallion around his neck; and I also believe that the medallion hypnotized Fred, in this hypnotized state I believe that he opened the secret passageway as well, and if everything adds up the way I think it is, then that vampire the two of you saw is none other then Fred" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Oh no! No, it can't be, my Freddie is a v-vampire?" Daphne said with a scared look on her face.

"I'm afraid so Daphne" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Jeepers, then when Freddie was in our bedroom, he was probably attempting to transform us into vampires" Daphne said; the red head still looked to be distressed by what she was hearing and was still attempting to fully comprehended the fact that her boyfriend and the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. was now, at least temporarily a vampire.

"Sadly yes; the power of the medallion most likely corrupted him and clouded his mind with the hypnotic spell, blocking out any possibility that he would recognize the two of you and any possibility that he would realize what he was doing was wrong" Uncle Jeff stated.

"Okay, so now that we know what this medallion is and what it's capable of; however, there's still one thing that we don't know" Velma remarked.

"What's that Velma?" Daphne asked.

"We know that someone in this castle somehow hid in the secret passageway behind the painting in Fred's bedroom, lowered the medallion towards him and put it around his neck; however we have no idea who our culprit is, not to mention how do we find him or her" Velma replied.

"Good question girls, although we can eliminate a few suspects right away; for instance I know I didn't do it, I was in my bedroom the whole time, and we can eliminate the two of you as suspects because you explained to me what your whereabouts were at the time Fred was hypnotized" Uncle Jeff clarified.

"That's right, so once we eliminate the three of us, who does that leave us with?" Velma inquired; the bespectacled young woman then placed two fingers to her chin and began thinking, trying to somehow figure out who was behind hypnotizing Fred and transforming him into a vampire, finally it hit Velma like a mental bolt of lightning, she had come up with something and decided to inform the red headed sleuth and the group's unofficial leader's relative of her theory.

"Mr. Jones, is it possible, even though it sounds unusual that Mr. Wilkins the caretaker might be behind all of this Vampire business?" Velma asked.

"Miss Dinkley, I don't know if that's possible at all, I mean Mr. Wilkins has been a valued employee of mine for about ten years now, not to mention his family has been the caretakers of this castle for centuries and they have always been trusted and respected people, although…" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Although what Mr. Jones?" Daphne inquired.

"As you probably noticed, Mr. Wilkins was absent for a short period of time when I was getting ready to show you to your rooms" Uncle Jeff replied.

"That's right, he did duck out of the study, I wonder…" Velma stated.

"Wonder what Velma?" Uncle Jeff asked.

"I wonder if after Mr. Wilkins left the study, he went to Fred's bedroom, figured out a way to cut the holes in the painting, rig up the book in the book case and set up the entrance to the secret passageway all before the three of us went into the bedrooms to sleep" Velma explained.

"Velma, you may be onto something there; also, this wouldn't be the first time he has tried something like this, he's been disappearing from the castle for weeks at a time ever since he started here; frankly I can't understand it myself, but I think it might have something to do with the hauntings around here" Uncle Jeff replied.

"How so Mr. Jones?" Daphne asked.

"Well, every time ghosts or phantoms or other supernatural occurrences have taken place in this castle since he was hired, I have went to his cabin outside of the castle to see if he was all right, but every time I have checked on him, he was nowhere to be found, frankly for the last few months I've been very suspicious of him and his actions as well" Uncle Jeff stated.

"Hmm… Mr. Jones, maybe there is something to what you just said, maybe Mr. Wilkins is the one behind all the hauntings at the castle and maybe he's behind Fred becoming a Vampire as well" Velma replied.

"Jeepers, then that means that we have to figure out where the caretaker currently is, if we can do that, it should lead us to Freddie, and then we can break whatever hypnotism is being used on Fred" Daphne explained.

"Right Daphne, now the only question is where is the caretaker's cabin?" Velma wondered.

"I can answer that: Mr. Wilkins cabin is on the outskirts of the property and if we hurry we should be able to get there in five minutes" Uncle Jeff remarked.

"Well then let's get going before Fred becomes a bat," Daphne declared.

"Is she like this with Fred all the time?" Uncle Jeff asked in a whispered tone of voice as he moved closer to Velma.

"Usually yes, although when Fred's in serious danger like he is now she acts much crazier" Velma whispered back.

"Ah, I see; young love certainly has changed from when I was a teenager, hasn't it?" Uncle Jeff remarked.

"Sure has" Velma replied with a bit of a chuckle.

With that Daphne, Velma and Fred's uncle left the bedroom, but not before the blond young adult's relative locked the door behind him; once the door was locked the trio raced through the house at lightning speed towards the caretaker's cabin, after what seemed like hours but in reality was only about five minutes the two female investigators and Fred's uncle reached the outside of the castle.

"Come on Daphne and Velma, Mr. Wilkins cabin is this way!" Uncle Jeff declared as he led the two young women towards a clearing next to a large Fir tree, the two female sleuths and the blond teen's uncle then ran several hundred more feet before reaching the large tree; as the three of them walked through the clearing they noticed a small wooden structure which seemed to be out of place, considering it was surrounded by grass and a few bushes, however Fred's uncle recognized the building and explained to the young investigators what it was.

"Girls, I think we found it" Uncle Jeff remarked.

"You mean this is…?" Daphne asked.

"That's right Daphne, this is the caretaker Mr. Wilkins cabin" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Terrific, then let's go in and find that creep!" the red head declared.

"Right, and I happen to have an extra key to the cabin for just these situations" Uncle Jeff said as he dug through his pants pockets and found a small gold key which he then placed in the lock of the door to the cabin; moments later the two sleuths and Fred's uncle heard the lock click and the door opened wide, which enabled the three of them to enter the cabin easily.

"Well girls, this is Mr. Wilkins' cabin, so any ideas on what we should be looking for?" Uncle Jeff asked as he stood in the doorway.

"It's fairly simple Mr. Jones, usually we search the building or location that we're in for clues as to whatever mystery we're involved with, like this mystery for example" Velma explained.

"So all we have to do is find clues as to where the caretaker is and what he's up to, is that fairly accurate?" Uncle Jeff inquired.

"Yep that's about the extent of it Mr. Jones" Daphne replied.

"Sounds fine to me, so how are we going to look for clues?" Uncle Jeff asked.

"Well Mr. Jones, you look on that side of the room while Daphne and I look on this side, okay?" Velma explained as she pointed to the sidewall of the cabin.

"Sounds good to me" Uncle Jeff said; with that he started searching on one side of the small cabin while the two female sleuths searched on the other side of the cabin, soon the blond young adult's relative began searching a nightstand and within a few minutes he was looking through the top drawer of the nightstand, when he found something rather interesting.

"Miss Blake, Miss Dinkley, come here for a moment" Uncle Jeff remarked; the pair of female investigators then joined the blond haired man where he was standing, the two young women flanked Fred's uncle as he was showing them something inside the top drawer of the nightstand, from what the girls could tell it was a small button of some kind, which confused the three of them to be sure.

"Hmm… I wonder what someone would be doing with a button built right into a nightstand?" Velma mused.

"Good question Velma, I wonder what would happen if we pushed it?" Daphne asked.

"Well girls, you two are the detectives in the room, so why don't we find out" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Good thinking Mr., Jones, who wants to do the honors?" Velma inquired.

"I'll take a shot at it" Daphne said; the red head then reached inside the nightstand and pushed the button, before she knew it, a few dozen feet or so away from the trio the floor began opening up to reveal a hole in it, which made the three of them very curious.

"Jinkies, there's a hole in the floor of the caretaker's cabin, hmm…" Velma remarked.

"Hmm is right Velma, why would there be a hole in the floor of the cabin?" Daphne asked.

"Well, why don't we explore it, after all it might lead us to Fred and the answer to our little mystery" Uncle Jeff suggested.

"Good thinking Mr. Jones, come on" Velma replied as she started towards the hole in the floor; soon the young chestnut haired woman had went down the hole and discovered something very interesting, after her findings she poked her head back up through the hole and let Daphne and Fred's uncle know what she found.

"Mr. Jones, Daphne, you're not going to believe this but this hole leads to a tunnel" Velma explained.

"Jeepers, that must be how Mr. Wilkins got into the castle and hypnotized Fred; and it quite possibly could lead the solution of this whole mystery" Daphne replied.

"Right, which means we have to explore this tunnel and see if we can find Mr. Wilkins and Fred" Velma remarked.

"Sounds good to me, come on Mr. Jones, I'll help you down into the tunnel" Daphne said as she led Fred's uncle towards the hole and down into the tunnel.

"Thank you Daphne, now why don't I help you down into the tunnel as well" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Thank you Mr. Jones, that's very gracious of you" Daphne remarked as Fred's uncle took her arm and helped her down into the tunnel.

With Daphne, Velma and Fred's uncle inside the tunnel, they began walking through it, making sure to comb through every inch of the passageway for any sign of Fred or the caretaker of the castle; they had been walking for what felt like several days when Mr. Jones spoke up and told the two young women about where the trio were.

"Ladies I think I recognize this portion of the tunnel; if I'm not mistaken, we're not directly under the castle, and I think we might be underneath the hallway that contains your bedrooms" Uncle Jeff explained.

"Jeepers, how can you tell Mr. Jones?" Daphne asked.

"Because Daphne; a few years ago we had some of the worst thunderstorms this part of the world had seen in a couple decades; when the storms were pouring down buckets of rain, Mr. Wilkins and I hid in the tunnel because it doubles as a sort of an old fashioned bomb shelter, probably built during World War Two to enable the inhabitants of this castle to hide from the Nazis" Uncle Jeff clarified.

"Jeepers, but how do you know this part of the tunnel is underneath the hallway with our bedrooms Mr. Jones?" Daphne asked.

"When I was preparing for your arrival I made sure that your rooms were sturdy and nothing would happen to them; because the ground this castle is built on has been notorious for being damp and soggy, in addition the soil has been eroding slowly over the last couple decades, so I wanted to make sure you didn't sink into the tunnel or anything similar" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Makes sense, so do you really think this tunnel will lead us to Fred and the caretaker?" Velma asked.

"I'm sure of it girls; now, all we have to do is find my nephew and the caretaker and figure out this mystery" Uncle Jeff replied.

Fred's uncle, Daphne and Velma then continued walking through the tunnel, they had been doing so for around twenty minutes before they found a sight in the tunnel that was all too familiar to the two young women, considering they were supernatural investigators; in fact, this was a sight that they were expecting to see at least once during their time in Germany, considering they were staying at an old castle.

What was the sight? You might ask, in this case the sight was a large wooden box draped in black and red; however, this wasn't any ordinary box, or at least one that you might find in a factory or something similar, it was in reality a large and very frightening looking coffin, which made Daphne and Velma quite nervous to be sure as they caught sight of it.

"J-Jeepers, what's a coffin doing in the tunnel?" Daphne asked, standing nervously behind Velma and Fred's uncle.

"I don't know, but let's just see who's in the coffin and then maybe we'll have some answers" Velma remarked; the two young women then walked over to the coffin and opened it, but when they did they saw a sight that almost stopped their respective hearts, the sight in this case was their best friend Fred Jones, who looked much like a vampire, only asleep, at least for the moment.

"Jinkies, Fred, it's true he is a vampire" Velma remarked, standing with her mouth open in shock.

"Jeepers, poor Freddie, what are we going to do?" Daphne asked.

"Well for starters I would count your prayers, because my apprentice is going to turn the two of you into vampires very soon" a sinister sounding unseen male voice said as he laughed evilly; soon the two young women and Fred's uncle could see a very familiar figure wearing a black cloak stepping out of the shadows, it was indeed the castle caretaker Mr. Wilkins, who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Well, well, well, here we all are, in the tunnel; and it looks like the three of you have found my apprentice's resting place as well" Mr. Wilkins continued.

"You monster, what have you done with my Freddie?" Daphne asked, sounding quite angry.

"Why my dear, I've simply made him better; your leader is now a creature of the night thanks to that medallion he is wearing, and soon he will put the bite on all of you, turning you all into vampires! And then nothing will stop me from ruling Germany and all of Europe!" Mr. Wilkins declared, sounding as if he had gone completely mad.

"You're crazy Wilkins, what makes you think turning us into vampires will help in your plan?" Uncle Jeff asked.

"That's just like you Mr. Jones, always squashing my ideas; just think of it, an army of creatures of the night, able to stop anyone who dares oppose them by simply biting them and turning them into vampires, then as the only human in the country and continent I would be King" Mr. Wilkins replied.

"Fred's uncle is right, you are crazy; and by the way, your plan won't work" Velma remarked.

"Oh? And why not?" Mr. Wilkins asked, folding his arms impatiently.

"Because vampires have to stay out of sunlight, they would burn up in the sun; so you would only have to have them go out at night" Velma explained.

"Ha! Naive girl, because they are humans turned into vampires, they would be able to go out into the sun and because they are not vampires from birth, they would be safe from the sun; you know you really should learn more about these things before you speak my dear" Mr. Wilkins replied, while Velma gritted and grinded her teeth watching him.

"Well I may not know much about vampires, but my Freddie isn't going to help you in your plan, because I'm going to get that medallion off his neck once and for all" Daphne remarked as she began walking towards the coffin.

"Well miss Blake, I'll let you know that my hypnotism is strong and that you won't break it no matter what you try, in fact I'll even give you a sporting chance at doing it; go ahead and try and remove it, oh, by the way: while you're doing it, I am going to bring Fred back into my control, so it'll be even more challenging for you my dear" Mr. Wilkins said

Suddenly the vampire Fred stood up from the coffin and came out of it, then he began walking towards Daphne, but of course she was ready for him as she began speaking to Fred, hoping to break him out of his trance.

"Come on Freddie, snap out of it, please! I care too much for you to see you like this, I want you to be back to normal please Freddie!" Daphne said with all her heart, hoping to reach her boyfriend.

"Sorry my dear, it's too late, you can't break my control, don't even try" Mr. Wilkins said, sneering at the trio as he watched Daphne approach the vampire Fred, while the blond young adult hissed and tried to bite Fred.

"Please Freddie, you can do it, there has to be some way to get you back to normal; wait, I've got it!" Daphne said as she continued to slowly approach the young man.

Soon Daphne was right in front of Fred, or rather the vampire Fred and had a plan to bring him back to his sense in her mind as she watched him; the young red head then leaned into towards Fred Jones and planted her lips on his as she began kissing him; as she kissed him, with one hand she tried removing the medallion and lo and behold, after a few minutes of trying, it was indeed budging, which made the caretaker quite angry.

"No! This won't happen, this can't happen, I was so close!" Mr. Wilkins declared as he watched Fred and Daphne kiss; soon the red head had managed to get the medallion off and had thrown it with one hand towards Fred's uncle, who caught it with his right hand.

As Fred and Daphne kissed, the red head could see that her boyfriend's hair was returning to normal, his face was turning back to its regular color, his cape was vanishing, his fangs were gone, in short he was returning to normal, which relieved Daphne, but confused Velma.

"What's going on Mr. Jones?" Velma asked.

"Simple, according to the family histories here in the castle, if a member of the Jones family is kissed by their true love while they are a vampire and wearing the medallion, the kiss will turn them back to normal and break the vampire spell" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Jinkies, that's actually pretty romantic" Velma remarked; as the young woman and Fred's uncle watched, Daphne and Fred were finishing their kiss and the blond young adult was turning all the way back to normal, in fact once the two of them finished, Fred was back to normal and stood in the tunnel somewhat confused.

"Oh man, what happened? I feel like I raided a blood bank" Fred said as he held his head; the young man then saw Daphne standing right in front of him, blushing, which made Fred a little perplexed.

"Daphne? What's going on here, why are you blushing?" Fred asked.

"Because Fred, I just saved you; you were a vampire and I got the idea that if I kissed you, you would turn back to normal" Daphne replied.

"I guess it worked, I feel normal; but I don't get something, how did I turn into a vampire?" Fred asked.

"You can thank Mr. Wilkins here nephew, he got into your room through a secret passage and turned you into a vampire, then your friends and I had to save you from a horrible fate" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Wow Uncle Jeff, you guys did all that for me?" Fred asked, with a broad smile on his face.

"We sure did Freddie, we sure did" Daphne replied as she began hugging Fred and didn't stop for at least a couple of minutes.

"Thanks guys, Uncle Jeff, Velma, and especially you Daphne, you must have been pretty brave to face me when I was a vampire huh?" Fred asked, continuing to look into the young red head's eyes; the red head didn't respond to his comments, she just began kissing him again, which made Fred's uncle smile, Velma shake her head, but smile as well, and Mr. Wilkins… well Mr. Wilkins just snarled and growled at the gang, realizing that his diabolical plot had been foiled once and for all.

Later on, as the early morning dawn came, Fred, Daphne, Velma and Fred's uncle sat around the breakfast table discussing the events of the previous night and the events of the mystery that Daphne and Velma had solved, with the help of Fred's Uncle Jeff of course; however, one person was not at the table, nor anywhere in the castle for that matter, the one person not with the group was the castle's caretaker Mr. Wilkins, who after the local authorities had been called, was led away to the local jail, and who had been charged with kidnapping because he had taken Fred out of his room in addition to hypnotizing him.

However, as Fred, Daphne, Velma and the blond young adult's uncle continued to savor their large meal, the caretaker of the castle was as far from the group's minds as one would expect, but the trio and Fred's uncle did discuss some aspects of the strange caretaker, which made sense considering Fred wanted to know more about his time as a vampire.

"I still can't believe I was a blood sucking vampire, that Mr. Wilkins must have done a good job, because I don't remember much of my time as a vampire, much less what happened before you kissed me Daphne, by the way thanks for the kiss, I enjoyed it" Fred remarked.

"Not a problem Freddie, I enjoyed it too" Daphne replied as she and the blond young adult looked lovingly at each other while they ate.

"Mr. Jones, are you going to stay here at the castle now that Mr. Wilkins is in jail?" Velma inquired, looking over at the relative of the unofficial leader of the group's relative.

"I don't know Velma, I probably will, but I'll need a new caretaker for the castle; maybe I'll head back home to the United States if I can't find a new caretaker" Uncle Jeff replied.

"Speaking of caretakers, I wonder what's going to happen to Mr. Wilkins?" Velma pondered aloud.

"Well whatever it is, it's not enough; serves him right for turning Freddie into a vampire" Daphne said, before getting up from the table and getting some more milk from the fridge, once she was done with that though, she kissed Fred on the cheek, before she sat back down again.

While Fred, Daphne and Velma had a rather uneventful rest of their visit at the castle, they decided that they enjoyed solving mysteries with only the three of them, so they made a decision to do what they used to do when Shaggy and Scooby were around, mainly traveling around the world and solving mysteries, at least until they worked on careers and went to college.

Meanwhile back in the small German town that contained the prison where Mr. Wilkins was spending his sentence for kidnapping, he was about to receive a rather unwelcome surprise; the former caretaker of Jones Castle sat in his small cell, awaiting the day that he completed his ten year sentence and that he would get revenge on Fred, Daphne, Velma and Fred's uncle, as he sat on the stone bench that made for the only place he could sit in the cell, he thought about how he would take vengeance on the young sleuths and the blond young adult's uncle.

"Blasted meddling kids and that meddling uncle of that Jones kid, he ruined my plans! If it's the last thing I do, I will get out of here and I will get revenge on him and his friends!" Mr. Wilkins growled.

However, as the ex-caretaker of Jones Castle sat on the stone bench, he looked across the small cell through the bars and saw that the medallion that he had tried to hypnotize Fred with was sitting right in front of the cell, so he got up, walked over to the cell doors, reached through them and retrieved the medallion; to his surprise though, when he held the medallion in the palm of his hand, it began glowing, and a few moments later he could feel himself transform completely into a vampire.

A few moments later a uniformed guard in the prison walked by the cell, holding a metal tray and knocking on the door of the small cell, however he was unaware of what was happening in the caretaker's cell as he walked by.

"All right Wilkins, time for breakfast; actually you're in luck, the prison kitchen made some pastries today" the guard said as he approached the small cell, however when he looked through the cell, he noticed that there was a strange creature wearing a black cape standing in the cell, which made the guard as nervous as he could be.

"It can't be! A V-vampire!" the guard exclaimed as he pushed a button on his walkie-talkie and began speaking into it; after the guard got a closer look at the vampire, he ran away down the hall and began looking for someone to check the cell.

As Mr. Wilkins sat back down he smiled and laughed evilly, somehow he was now a vampire and he had the powers of darkness within him, which meant that the rest of his sentence was going to be interesting to say the least.

"Ah, now those fools will pay, and the guards in this prison will feel my bite soon enough, with my new vampire powers, I shall be invincible!" Mr. Wilkins declared, hissing and laughing evilly.

With the caretaker of the castle now a vampire, Mr. Wilkins figured he was going to have some fun in the prison for the rest of his sentence, that is if no one had garlic, holy water or a stake, in addition once he was free, he would turn Fred, Daphne and Velma into vampires once and for all, then he would try his plan to transform all of Europe and Germany and then the world into creatures of the night once and for all.

Author's Notes: I wasn't sure how to end this story, but after some thought I decided to make it a cliff hanger, hope you enjoy; and make sure and tell me what you think of the stories with just Fred, Daphne and Velma, I'm going to do a series of stories with just these three, so I want to make sure everybody likes these stories.


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